As a service to crime victims, Wichita police are stepping up their reporting on social media sites of crimes and other situations, police Lt. Doug Nolte said on Friday.

Nolte, at the daily police briefing for the media, pointed out that though police publicly announce the news of many crimes and other situations, and though the media reports the details, there remain many smaller situations where neither police nor media report anything.

So police are going to use Twitter and Facebook to offer information on smaller-scale situations, in the hope that it might not only solve some crimes but get property returned to rightful owners, Nolte said.

He used the example of a pair of rings, stolen on Feb. 10 from the Wichita’s Northwest YMCA.

Police used their Twitter and Facebook site to not only report some details but to post photos of the stolen rings, Nolte said.

“We want to use social media to highlight some of these situations that typically aren’t going to make much news in the media,” Nolte said.